The Palestinian flag is to be raised for the first time at the United Nations later in what the Palestinian leader says will be "a most emotional and proud day".

The Palestinian flag has been raised for the first time at United Nations headquarters in New York.

Earlier this month, the UN General Assembly passed a motion to raise the Palestinian and Vatican flags.

The ceremony was attended by the President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas.

Israel criticised the move and voted against it, along with the United States and six other countries.

Addressing the UN General Assembly, Mr Abbas said it was unconscionable that the question of Palestinian statehood remained unresolved.

The Israeli and Palestinian leaders will speak before the UN this week.

He also warned that the PA no longer felt bound by agreements with Israel he claimed were "continually violated".

"The sense of pride among the Palestinian people was overwhelming the day the world voted in favour of this landmark initiative," Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas wrote in the Huffington Post on Tuesday.

"As long as Israel refuses to cease settlement activities and to release of the fourth group of Palestinian prisoners in accordance with our agreements, they leave us no choice but to insist that we will not remain the only ones committed to the implementation of these agreements," Mr Abbas said.

"I am certain that the day our flag rises among the flags of the community of nations will also be a most emotional and proud day."

"We therefore declare that we cannot continue to be bound by these agreements and that Israel must assume all of its responsibilities as an occupying power."

He also called for a multilateral solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, adding: "The UN must give my people more than hope."

Mr Abbas has in the past threatened to dissolve the PA and hand sole responsibility for the West Bank to Israel if there is no chance of a peace deal.

The motion was passed by 119 votes, but 45 countries abstained from the vote.

The PA was set up as an interim administration for the major Palestinian cities in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip after the 1993 Oslo Accord. It was envisaged that a comprehensive treaty would be concluded within five years.

At the time, Israel's permanent representative to the UN, Ron Prosor, said the move was a "blatant attempt to hijack the UN". He insisted that the only way Palestinians could achieve statehood was through direct negotiations.

However, more than two decades of talks with Israel have failed to achieve a final peace settlement and an independent Palestinian state. The last round of negotiations collapsed in April 2014.

'Proud day'

Writing in the Huffington Post on Tuesday, Mr Abbas had said the raising of the Palestinian flag at the UN would be "a most emotional and proud day".

The UN General Assembly passed a motion earlier this month to raise the Palestinian and Vatican flags. Israel voted against the motion, along with the United States and six other countries. Forty-five countries also abstained.

Israel's permanent representative to the UN, Ron Prosor, said at the time that the move was a "blatant attempt to hijack the UN". He insisted that the only way Palestinians could achieve statehood was through direct negotiations.

In 2012, the UN General Assembly voted to upgrade the status of the Palestinians to that of a "non-member observer state" - the same position that the Vatican holds.

In 2012, the UN General Assembly voted to upgrade the status of the Palestinians to that of a "non-member observer state" - the same position that the Vatican holds.

It followed a failed bid to join the international body as a full member state in 2011 because of a lack of support in the UN Security Council.

It followed a failed bid by the Palestinians to join the international body as a full member state in 2011 because of a lack of support in the UN Security Council.

Mr Abbas will address the General Assembly in New York on Wednesday, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking a day later.

The BBC's Kevin Connolly in Jerusalem says Palestinians faced with falling living standards and life under Israeli occupation on the West Bank are growing impatient for some sign of progress in their quest for a Palestinian state.

He is expected to call on Palestinians to end "incitement to violence".

Raising the flag at the UN may not be as effective as raising that issue further up the world's diplomatic agenda but it is a tangible achievement and it was within Mr Abbas's power to deliver immediately, our correspondent adds.

In recent weeks, there have been clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli police at a disputed holy site in Jerusalem, known to Muslims as the Haram al-Sharif and to Jews as the Temple Mount.

Early on Wednesday, Israel carried out a series of air strikes on Gaza, hours after the Israeli Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepted a rocket from the enclave.